Bearded Gastonia police raise nearly $4,000 for Special Olympics

Thursday

Nov 30, 2017 at 3:33 PMNov 30, 2017 at 3:33 PM

By Dashiell Coleman dcoleman@gastongazette.com

A day of reckoning has arrived.

After 30 days of confinement in bathroom cabinets, the Gastonia Police Department’s razors will see the light of day. More than 90 officers on the city’s police force eschewed mandatory facial hair maintenance over the last month, opting instead to observe No Shave November as a way to raise money for the Special Olympics.

Even Chief Robert Helton – a stickler about his officers’ appearance – joined the cause.

“This has been great for the PD and for the morale of the PD,” a bearded Helton said Thursday. “We’ve had a good time with it.”

Until Nov. 1, Helton had been whiskers free throughout his 31-year-career at the department. People have been asking him if he retired. But Friday, he’ll be back to normal, though there’s the daunting task of shaving – something that tends to take a bit more finesse than usual after a month of unchecked facial hair growth.

“I’m a little nervous about how I’m going to get this thing off,” Helton said. “I may look rough tomorrow and come in with Band-Aids on.”

The police department raised about $3,600 during the initiative. Each participating officer donated $40 to the North Carolina Special Olympics. Members of the community who were curious about the bearded officers were handed pamphlets that included information about how to contribute.

Law enforcement agencies across the state enter what Sgt. Scott Norton calls “a friendly competition” each year to raise money for the Special Olympics. The 50 departments that raise the most money are listed on an annual sponsor T-shirt.

“We’ve made it for the last three years onto the shirt as one of the top 50 in the state as far as fundraising,” said Norton, who serves as chairman of the department’s Special Olympics Fundraising Committee. “That’s our goal.”

Typically, Gastonia’s officers also volunteer for the annual games at North Gaston High, and many also participate in a torch run across the city to raise money for the cause. Other local law enforcement agencies – Gaston County Police, the Sheriff’s Office and Ranlo Police – also participated in No Shave November.

Norton said No Shave November has been the most popular department fundraiser of the year. Between that and other initiatives, the department has raised nearly $9,000 so far this year, he said.

The department will likely bring the No Shave November fundraiser back in 2018 due to its high rate of participation– more than half of the department’s roughly 170 officers joined in.

That number far exceeded Norton’s expectations.

“My goal was 50,” Norton said. “My dream was 75. When it went to 92, it went into a whole new category.”

On top of that, employees from other city departments caught wind of the fundraiser and decided to get on board.

Officer J.K. Sarratt said he only recently got comfortable with the bearded look. In his opinion, it just didn’t feel right in a uniform at first.

“You used to look in the mirror and want to be clean shaven,” Sarratt said. “It’s taken some getting used to.”

Officer B.W. Reese agreed – in the beginning, he had to keep reminding himself that the chief said it was OK.

But now it’s back to regularly scheduled maintenance – hopefully without any shaving-related hiccups.

“I hope I don’t have a tan line,” Reese said. “I don’t want a tan line, because, if so, I need to get some spray tan. I can’t have that.”

There is, however, one option for officers who just can’t let it all go.

“You can have a mustache,” Helton said. “It has to be a regulated mustache. It has specifications. But no beard.”

To learn more or make donations of your own to North Carolina’s Special Olympics program, go to http://sonc.net/give/.

You can reach Dashiell Coleman at 704-869-1819 or on Twitter @DashiellColeman.

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